My sister could make up crazy stories.
My mom let me watch my little sister without a babysitter when I was ten years old. Since we lived on a farm and the closest neighbour was a mile away, it was easier to give me extra money than to bother another adult. Anyway, I was a good boy, and my sister wasn't too much trouble.
Cindy always had great ideas for play. She could write such interesting little stories about the things going on around her. There was always another way to look at things, so nothing was ever what it seemed.
Do you hear those scratching sounds in the attic in the autumn? No, it wasn't rats. Fairies were hiding in the walls to stay warm.
The fog that covered the pumpkin patches at night kept us from seeing witches and trolls stealing our food.
In the woods around our house, there was even a sasquatch living. He didn't want to come out, though. It looks like he was shy.
I liked hearing her stories all the time. It was a break from the boring life we had to live on the farm. Around the house, we went on treasure hunts to look for gold or what Cindy called "mole-people," which were strange little men. We had fun together, and she always laughed. I felt like the best big brother in the world.
The year I turned twelve, at the end of June, everything began to fall apart.
Having spent the afternoon with my friend Kai, I was going home with my dad. We didn't have any homework, so I called my mom and begged her to let Kai and me hang out at the arcade for a while. I promised to do all my jobs the next day. Yes, my mum said, and she told me to wait for my dad at 6:30.
The school day ended at 3:30, so Kai and I had almost three hours to play any video games we wanted. It was great for me as a kid to go to the playground. In 2002, we didn't really have cell phones or video games, and I didn't even have an Xbox. My mum was adamant that I could not have one until I turned 13.
My mum was in the kitchen when we got home. My dad went to sit down in his armchair after she gave him a beer. He wouldn't get out of it until it was time for bed most of the time.
"Hey, green bean!" my mom smiled at me. "Had fun?"
"Yeah! "Thank you for letting me go."
"I think you earned some free time," she said as she took the meatloaf out of the oven. "Green bean, could you do me a favour?" Tell your sister to come inside, and then go clean up. It's time for dinner.
"Of course."
There was a door from the kitchen to the back porch and yard. The porch was built by my dad. I thought it was a cool building at the time, but now I'm surprised it didn't fall down on us. I closed the door behind me as I walked from the kitchen to the deck.
I knew right away that something wasn't right. Our backyard had about twenty yards of grass that suddenly ended in some thick woods. Just before the trees, some of Cindy's toys were spread out. I looked in every direction but couldn't find Cindy.
"Hey Cindy! "Dinner time, mum!" I called to see if she was still there after going around the side of the house. There's nothing. No answer. I felt a knot start to form in my stomach. Cindy came when I called her every time. I mean, she at least replied.
I ran off the porch towards her toys. Her friends looked like they were having a tea party with her. There were no signs of trouble. I was scared. Little Cindy Cindy was smart, but she was also six years old and very ignorant. Had someone gotten her to leave the house? I began to worry.
Say "Cindy!" I called once more.
My little sister ran out when she heard the long grass near the trees rustling. She smiled at me and ran straight at me. I let out a sigh of relief and picked her up.
"Hi, Danny!" she laughed.
Hi Cindy, Jesus. I was scared of you. What did your parents say about being alone in the woods?"
Her face fell, and she said she hadn't gone past the big pine tree in front of the queue of trees. that she didn't know no one could see her.
"Okay, but I learned my lesson, right?" I inquired.
Cindy said, "Right."
I looked at her all the way around. She had grass and dirt all over her. "Jesus, you're dirty!" Right away, you need a bath."
I turned around and brought her back inside. My mom looked at my sister, sighed, and took her to the bathroom to wash her off. I went outside again and got her toys.
Cindy told everyone at dinner that night that she had made a new friend.
Mum told me, "That's great, honey. Is she in your class?"
Cindy looked at my mum and said, "No!" He does not go to school. He stays in the woods. That's where the kitchen door is, she said.
My mom and I looked at each other. This was yet another made-up friend for Cindy. But she had a lot of real ones, so there was no need to worry. It was just hard to keep up with them all. I'll be honest: her mind had a bad side.
I asked her, "What's his name?" to cheer her up.
Say "Gordon."
"How old is he?"
She shook her head and said, "No, he's sixteen." Her brown curls were moving around.
Okay, I guess. That was strange. The look on my mom's face told me she had no idea what that meant either. Cindy didn't say anything when she was asked what she meant.
"He's nine years old, but he says he's been nine for sixteen years."
That made us wonder more than it answered. But my mom and I didn't pay much attention to it because Cindy had said similar things before.
Cindy talked about Gordon more and more as the weeks went by. He looked like any other boy, but there was green stuff all over him. He was wearing dirty clothes and only had one shoe. He liked to run quickly and kill bugs. But he didn't like the water. His mom and dad were mean to him, so he would run away to live in the woods with his friend Grover. My sister never met Grover, but Gordon said he was eleven to sixteen years old.
She played with him all day after school ended for the summer. She begged me to take her into the woods so she could play with Gordon and not get in trouble while I watched her during the day. A lot of the time, I did what she asked. As a child, I liked being in the woods and painting. I would bring a painting, an easel, and paints to a place, and Cindy would talk to Gordon from the trees.
"Why doesn't Gordon come down here so you can talk to him more easily?" I asked her one day.
"Oh, Gordon doesn't want you to see him," she told him.
"Why is that?"
"He thinks you're a jerk."
I asked her how she learned that word. What do you think she said? Gordon, of course I do. I told her that was rude and that our dad would wash her mouth out with soap if she did it again.
Things kept getting strange. My dad got home from work one night very late. He heard laughing coming from Cindy's room when he went upstairs. My dad went to check on her because it had been hours since she went to bed.
When he went into her room, Cindy was standing next to the window that was open and looking outside. When my dad asked her what she was doing, she looked at him blankly and said:
"I'm talking to Gordon. He's gone now, so you can't see him.
My dad put her to bed and didn't say a word. He would tell me years later that event gave him chills for days afterward.
It was in the middle of August that I last heard her talk about Gordon. When I got home from hitting a tennis ball against the house wall, Cindy was quietly crying on the couch. I asked her what was wrong because I felt like a big brother.
Lia was being mean to her, she told me with sad brown eyes and a sniffle. He wants me to live with him in the woods. Danny, I don't want to go! He got mad when I told him I couldn't because I'd miss family and you too much. He told me I was a bad friend and that if it came to it, he would make me live with him in the woods. Hey Danny, I'm scared.
I was done with Gordon at this point. He was getting out of hand because my sister let him, which was silly. That was it. I took her by the shoulders and told her, "Cindy, Gordon isn't real." The calmest I could be.
She opened her mouth to say something like "he is too!" but I stopped her. Olive is only in your mind. He was made up by you. Do you understand what that means? He can't hurt you because he isn't there. I'm real, you are real, but he's not. Do you get it?"
Cindy unwillingly agreed, which made me feel better. I hoped I wouldn't have to deal with him ever again and could enjoy the last two weeks of my summer break before middle school.
Cindy wasn't seen for two days after that.
When my mom went to wake her up, she got the biggest shock of her life when she opened the bedroom door. It was a mess. There was grass and dirt all over. The sheets were all torn up, and the window was wide open. Perhaps the most unsettling thing was the muddy marks on the walls. A dozen of them.
That day wasn't very memorable for me. The police were called. They asked for statements. We hadn't heard a fight, no. No, we didn't know anyone who would hurt her or us.
I thought back to what she had said a few days ago. In my heart, I believed Gordon kept his word and dragged my sister into the woods. I really considered telling the cops about it. No, I didn't.
A big search party went through the woods on our land. Dogs picked up on her smell, but then lost it. They only found a dirty piece of her clothing. The case went cold as the months turned into a year and then two. Cindy has still not been found.
After that, I grew up with a hole in my home. I still miss her and want to see her smile and hear her stories. I think my mum drank to deal with the loss. My dad pulled away from everyone because he was too sad to care. It's a wonder I got my act together in time to go to college after that. I did badly in school after that.
I'm now twenty-eight years old and have my own family. Maya, my five-year-old daughter, is a lot like her aunt. With lots of ideas and stories. And as I type this, I'm beginning to wonder if she's really seeing things.
What she said to me today really scared me. She said she met a new person in the park behind our house called Cindy. And Cindy is sixteen years old.
